Pete Best Vs. Ringo Starr

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Permalink Reply by Rusty Axewielder on January 5, 2011 at 10:16pm

Pretty cool wiki article about this. I guess it would be a matter of opinion. I have not heard a lot of Pete Best' drumming so who knows. Here is one quote from the wiki article;

 Lennon, asked if Starr was the best drummer in the world, jokingly replied, "He's not even the best drummer in The Beatles!",^[50] but also said, "Ringo's a damn good drummer. He always was a good drummer. He's not technically good, but I think Ringo's drumming is underrated the same way as Paul's bass playing is underrated."

 

I guess I would use Ringo though...

Permalink Reply by Dennis Holseybrook on January 5, 2011 at 11:52pm

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

Permalink Reply by Chuck Kaiser on January 6, 2011 at 7:59am

George Martin replaced Best with Starkey.

Who am I to second guess George Martin?!?!?

'Nuff said!

Permalink Reply by Dennis Holseybrook on January 6, 2011 at 10:48am

Very true. Ty for posting.

Permalink Reply by Rick Greene on January 14, 2011 at 5:43pm

Pete Best put out an album a few years ago called "Hayman's Green" and I gotta say... I was fairly blown away by it.  Solid Beatlesque Power Pop, one excellent track after another.  He's not the only drummer on the album, but that doesn't detract.  I found it to be shockingly almost-great.

Permalink Reply by Chuck Kaiser on January 15, 2011 at 11:55am

Rick is correct.  It's a very interesting pop recording, worth checking out. Sound bites can be heard here:

http://www.amazon.com/Haymans-Green-Pete-Best-Band/dp/B001DSNFU0/re...

 

 

Permalink Reply by Richard Snow on June 29, 2011 at 2:48pm

Only heard a couple of Beatles recordings with Pete on the drums. One is Besame Mucho. He seems fine on this. The other is the 1st version of "love me do" on Anthology.  On that he speeds up and slows down all over the shop. Not sure if that was intentional or not. 

Permalink Reply by Vic Paric on June 30, 2011 at 5:58pm

The Anthology version of "Love Me Do" is certainly inferior to the hit version, but I'm not sure that's Pete's fault or if it's due to the fact that they knew it wasn't likely a final take. The rhythm changes are definitely intentional, though I get the feeling he was experimenting.

 

I don't know if it's a question of who was the better overall drummer, but rather who was flexible and adaptable enough to keep up with the band's evolving music over the years. We know for a fact that Ringo was, I guess we'll never know about Pete.